Cable modems allow users to access the Internet via their cable television service. Such access has typically been provided over a coaxial cable, typically implemented within a hybrid-fiber coaxial (HFC) infrastructure. An HFC network may carry a variety of services, including but not limited to analog TV, digital TV (SDTV or HDTV), video on demand, telephony, and high-speed data that demand transmission of a large amount of data at high speeds. Services on these systems are carried on radio frequency (RF) signals in the 5 MHz to 1000 MHz frequency band and currently can transfer data at 250 Mbps or higher.
Internet access in these systems is provided through the cable modern located in a location that typically comprises a home or business, in communication with a cable modem termination system (CMTS). The cable modem termination system provides cable services to a large number of cable subscribers, typically between 4,000 and 150,000 or more. A typical CMTS is a device which hosts downstream and upstream traffic. While downstream and upstream traffic travel on a shared coaxial cable line in the customer premises, and connect to a single connection on the cable modern, it is typical for the CMTS to have separate connectors for downstream and for upstream traffic. Traffic destined for the cable modem from the Internet, known as downstream traffic, is carried in IP packets encapsulated according to a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standard.
Cable modems typically include software implemented according to the DOCSIS standard, an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV (CATV) system. DOCSIS is constantly being revised and upgraded based on changing needs. For example, DOCSIS was once revised because of increased demand for symmetrical services such as IF telephony in order to provide enhanced upstream transmission speeds, and was more recently revised to significantly increase transmission speeds (this time both upstream and downstream) and to introduce support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). However, these revisions and other changes to the firmware installed in cable modems require instantiation of a system to manage software upgrades.
DOCSIS management software automates the discovery and inventory management of DOCSIS devices by maintaining a centralized inventory of DOCSIS devices and automatically detecting newly provisioned devices, validating firmware versions and upgrading, if needed. DOCSIS management software is implemented by software installed on the CMTS and typically does not require any other service or software download installed on the cable modem in the borne or business. Accordingly, cable modems for use with coaxial cable networks that are installed in user's location typically do not include a large memory and/or a powerful processor for implementing software management since software management functions typically are performed by the DOCSIS management software at the CMTS.
In contrast, fiber networks also are used to provide bundled Internet access, telephone services, and television services over a fiber-optic communications network. Low-loss fiber optic cables carry a signal for several miles before needing a repeater while signal losses are high in coaxial cable. Additionally, fiber optic cables carry far more information than coaxial cables. A fiber optic system can carry up to 10 gigabits per second while coaxial cable is limited to only 250 megabits per second. Accordingly, some systems are transitioning to fiber optic networks to manage the increased data demands of a typical household.
In a typical installation, a single-mode optical fiber extends from an optical line terminal at a fiber optic services (FIOS) central office out to neighborhoods, where a passive optical splitter fans out the same signal on up to 32 fibers, thus serving up to 32 sites or “subscribers.” At a subscriber's location, an optical network terminal (ONT) transfers data onto the corresponding in-home copper wiring for phone, video, and Internet access. Typical FIOS installations mount the ONT inside the location and use a category five cable for data and coaxial cable for video. Voice service is carried over the existing telephone wires already in the building.
Although fiber optic network can use existing wiring hardware for providing data services, a problem occurs in managing software for the existing cable modem that had been implementing the DOCSIS standard. Fiber optic networks are setup to use a server that provides updates to the cable modem using a fiber optic update management client installed on the cable modem. However, as stated earlier, DOCSIS based cable modems typically do not have a large memory and a powerful processor to store and implement such an update management client.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for updating software in a network device implementing the DOCSIS standard following a transition from a coaxial cable network to a fiber-optic network.
What is further needed is such a system and method configured to facilitate ongoing remote updating of firmware in a telecommunication network device following a transition from a coaxial cable network to a fiber-optic network.